In 1989, the businessman Michael Knighton bid ￡20mn for Manchester United. At the time it was the highest price ever offered for an English football club. United’s owner hastily accepted. But the takeover fell through, partly because Knighton raised questions about his own psychology when he insisted on juggling a ball in front of a full stadium while dressed in club kit.

Now British businessman Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani are competing to buy United from the Glazer family. The valuation could exceed $6bn, which would be the highest ever for a sports club. Other than the sums, though, little has changed since Knighton’s day: rich men are still drawn to football by motives that are generally misunderstood, sometimes even by the rich men themselves. These people are less rational than they like to imagine.

The rich man often believes he’ll “run the club like a business”. He’ll apply his business genius to make profits and win trophies. This fantasy is currently helping to draw many American businesspeople into football.